30 CONVERSATIONS ON 



they may learn from each other; and the 

 wisest are not ashamed to acknowledge their 

 ignorance of some things ; and I believe they 

 take very little pleasure in puzzling. It is 

 our duty to learn all that we can, and to be 

 always willing at a proper time to teach 

 others what we know." 



" Thank you, dear Uncle Philip, for your 

 advice. We did not mean to triumph over 

 you, if you had not been able to tell us of 

 tailors among the animals. But we see that 

 you are right. We might get a foolish habit, 

 which would do us harm." 



"Exactly what I meant, boys; and now 

 let us begin. And first we will talk of the 

 cutting out, as the tailor always does that be- 

 fore he sews. There is a kind of bee* which, 

 like some of the insects we have already 

 spoken of, is furnished with a borer. With 

 this she forms a round hole, like that made 

 with an auger or gimlet, in a hard-trodden 

 path, or sometimes in a piece of soft decayed 

 wood. It is in making her nest in this hole 

 that she plays the part of a tailor, for the nest 

 is made of leaves, sometimes taken from the 

 rose, at others from the birch, ash, or other 



* Meg a chile centuncularia. 



